Brenntag Trims 2013 Profit Forecast Range on Economic Concerns

By Sheenagh Matthews -
Nov 6, 2013

Brenntag AG (BNR), the largest distributor
of chemicals, trimmed its full-year profit forecast range amid
worries about the strength of economies and after missing
analyst estimates for quarterly profit and sales.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization
and one-time items will now be between 710 million euros ($959
million) and 725 million euros, the Muelheim an der Ruhr,
Germany-based company said in a statement today. Previously the
company had forecast as much as 735 million euros.

Chief Executive Officer Steven Holland is pushing growth
through acquisitions, announcing four this year in India,
Australia and North America. The company saw no “tangible”
upturn in markets in the quarter and continued to face
“challenging” economic conditions, the CEO said today.

“The efficiency measures we initiated in the previous year
are now taking effect” in Europe, Holland said in the company’s
quarterly report. “Cost management is running well. In future,
we continue to systematically press ahead with our acquisition
strategy.”

Ebitda excluding extraordinary items gained 9.1 percent to
183.2 million euros in the third quarter. Analysts had predicted
183.8 million euros on average, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.

Sales rose less than 1 percent to 2.49 billion euros and
net income increased 3.1 percent to 80.9 million euros. Both
measures missed analyst estimates, the survey showed.